I enjoy writing. I’m good at writing.
I’m smart. I’m able to clearly and effectively communicate ideas. I’m able to be easily understood.
I’m coherent and good with language. I enjoy sharing through the medium of writing.
What I don’t like is the research and planning that goes into traditional blogging, email, etc.
I like the idea of having a blog on a topic; I don’t like the idea of having to be constantly researching and actively finding things to write about within a given niche.
That’s partially because I’ve not found a niche or an area that I really feel a deep interest and passion in. Self-improvement comes close, but I realise now that writing about self-improvement is/was not about the act of sharing direct advice and guidance on self-improvement; not about going out and finding something that could be useful for others, learning about it, then sharing my findings.
I’m not a journalist. I don’t like journalism.
As such, I think the best thing for me to write about is my experience.
I enjoy writing for writing’s sake, sharing my experience with the written word.
That doesn’t mean I shouldn’t educate myself or do research. It means that the research and learning I do are in area that I want to research. To follow my interests, fuse that with my experience and perspective, then share that.
“Why not fiction?”
I’ve thought a lot about writing fiction. And while I will eventually write a fantasy novel series, it’s not a priority for right now. Nor is reflective writing, to be fair, but sharing my experience has value in other areas. I’ll get onto that later.
The primary reason I don’t want to write fiction right now is financial.
In my opinion, to go all-in on writing a fiction book when your financial situation looks like mine is unwise. Doing all the writing, finding a publisher, having that publisher like it and promote it, and letting the sales roll in – all within a two-month period – is not a good move to make.
As such, I see writing fiction as more of a hobby or extra-curricular pursuit once a person is financially stable and has time to spend pursuing it.
That does not align with my focus right now. I cannot afford to focus on such a pursuit because I have to find the money to survive.
Sure, I could write it as a hobby on the side, but it cannot be my focus, nor will it be.
The value of writing about my experience
Aside from the benefits of writing in general, of actively practicing how to communicate ideas, of habitually levelling up my use of the written word, writing about my experience achieves two things.
- It creates a timeline of my life’s experience for others to follow
- It creates chronological markers about what I was thinking about / pursuing and my perspective on those things at any given point.
Both are mostly selfish. At least initially.
If I can entertain, inspire, or educate while writing, that much the better.
But it’s when my experience starts creating valuable lessons that writing about my experience becomes useful for others. And, in a lot of ways, it becomes my duty to share, given I’m capable of effectively communicating ideas and have valuable insights that could help others.
For the time being, writing about my experience will be infrequent. While I do want to – and plan to – create the habit of writing regularly, hopefully daily, there isn’t that much for me to write about right now. I’m focused on finding ways of making money, acquiring potential freelance clients, and of achieving the goal of becoming a digital nomad.
Once I’m a digital nomad, that’s when I’ll have valuable things to talk about.
The content of my writing
And that’s what I’m most looking forward to – travel. Once I’m travelling, I can write about and share my experience travelling. And there will be LOADS of experiences to write about when travelling. Not only will the content be about my experience as a digital nomad experiencing the world, but I’ll surely have valuable findings and insights worth sharing. Or, at the very least, I’ll have things for me to write about – which will improve my craft and perhaps create casual/entertainment interest in people.
I’ve wanted to create an online content business for a while. But, as mentioned earlier, I don’t feel a real pull towards any topic that isn’t my experience. And there isn’t really a niche for my experience. Sure, people might want to hear, but growing and marketing the business would be difficult. And when I don’t have a niche and will struggle to grow, it’s unwise to make a business. Add onto that my financial situation of quitting my job and self-employment, and now just isn’t a good time to focus on creating a content business and sharing my experience.
That got me thinking.
My focus right now, then, is on creating a business that allows me to travel, which will allow me to create a business talking about my experience travelling.
In other words, the focus right now is on creating a financial lifestyle that allows me to travel. Once I have that lifestyle, I can start creating a business writing about my experience – because I’ll actually have something to talk about.
So that’s what I want to write about; my experience. And the clearest, soonest, most likely topic of that experience will be travel.
I’m not yet sure what form that writing will take. It might be this blog, it might be an email newsletter using Substack, for example.
What I do know is that I’d like to write about it.
And until then, you’ll have to make do with infrequent, random posts like this.
James